Bulletin

Issue: October 2006

Research in Action

Calculate like an Egyptian

La Trobe University students have been learning Egyptian to solve mathematical problems and practise mathematical tables.

A rare 1923 manuscript is helping them study the history of mathematics at the Bendigo campus – turning the clock back 3,000 years.

Professor Terry Mills said the manuscript, by Egyptologist Thomas Eric Peet, provided a translation of an ancient Egyptian papyrus known as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. The original papyrus is in the British Museum.

Copies of Peet’s manuscript are difficult to obtain. Only a few libraries in Australia provide the document for loan. ‘I have been able to acquire a copy through a local book seller who sourced it from Egypt,’ he says.

‘The manuscript opens the door to another world for students and provides insight into the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians who developed a unique number system. ‘

Professor Mills says students have gained an enthusiasm for studying ancient manuscripts and made some surprising discoveries in the texts.

‘Most people would be familiar with the nursery rhyme, As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives...”. The students were amazed to discover very similar verses used by ancient Egyptians as the basis of a mathematical problem. ‘ Few universities in Australia teach the History of Mathematics.

‘This subject helps students experience a whole new side of mathematics. They see that mathematics is created by people and hence is influenced by the culture and events of the times. ‘

Most students taking the class at Bendigo, he says, are Bachelor of Education students preparing for careers in teaching.

‘We hope they will pass on their enthusiasm to their own students after they graduate. ‘